Now That You Mention It...

I wouldn't have thought of it this way, but this actually makes a lot of sense:

When I think of this Eagles season, I think there are two plays that took place that have a lot to do with the Eagles being where they are.  They probably aren't the plays you are thinking of either.

First, is Shayne Graham's missed 47-yard field goal at the end of overtime to get the Eagles a tie with the Bengals.  Who was happy about that when it happened? ...  But, if he makes that, the Eagles don't get into the playoffs.  The tie ended up getting them in.

Second is Kevin Kolb's pick-six to Ed Reed against Baltimore.  "But Micah, how did that help anything?  What a dumb play to pick.  You are just being stupid."  Well, that may be, but if Kolb throws a TD there, who knows if McNabb gets the start against Arizona? 

Comments

[BFH]

Indeed. I like Warren. GCobb, for all his merits, isn't really capable of being funny in print. Warren adds a nice touch to the site.

[bigmyc]

My vote is for Third and 20.

Followed by; Correll does Dallas with a 54 yard swing pass.

and; Assante pays out in Minny while Tavaris pays up (collected by Chris Clemons).

and; Formerly Fly'n Brian Westbrook runs away from Antonio Pierce.

and; ANY of the major plays by Dawk

[andy]

Wow Bigmyk, when you list them like that what a phenominally fun season this has been...

I'd add...

The dawkin flying strip/fumble recovery on big ben

The vintage 71 yard westbrook screen play

Asante bringing Eli's duck back to the 2

And the two "he stopped him again, he stopped him again!!" forth downs agains the Gmen

Good times...

[Andrew B]

I for one was absolutely thrilled when Shayne Graham missed his field goal in overtime.

What fan in their right mind would not take a tie over a loss?

Denver would have made the playoffs in 2006 had they just played for the tie against the 49ers.

However, the Bengals and Ravens game weren't the hinge of the season. That occurred in the 4th quarter of the game against the 0-5 49ers. The Eagles were a 2-3 team, on the road, down by 9 points in a 17-26 game at the end of the 3rd quarter and driving in the redzone when McNabb tossed a ball right to Takeo Spikes at the 12 yard line.

However, the play of the game and the season came on the subsequent 3rd down of the 49ers drive when Juqua Parker sacked O'Sullivan for a 9 yard loss, leaving the 49ers no chance to get a first downand little room to punt, which set up the Eagles with a short field that lead to a 23 point 4th quarter comeback. The Eagles came out of San Francisco 3-3, the start of what is now a 9-3-1 streak, and never looked back.

And they never sported a losing record again.

In a winning season, when you stop losing if you lose at the beginning, that is when it all began.

[Sundar]

I don't think if Kolb threw a td that it would have replaced McNabb....A more interesting article is the FO preview of the NYG game that stated Mcnabb as a top 5 QB statistically every week except Balt and Cincy.

Just like you said, Derek, he has two bad games a season. I think Reid knows that better than anyone

[cavortingEagle]

Micah Warren is the only reason I even look at GCobb's site. Cobb drives me absolutely insane, but Warren actually brings some good perspecitve.

Sundar may be right, but I think McNabb makes the throw to Reggie that ended up going the other way too. Ed Reed just baited Kolb into that one - really nice play by one of the 2 best Free Safeties in the NFL.

[Eagles Fan in San Fran]

Interesting observation Sundar about the "2 bad games" theory:
In looking at both Philip Rivers (who had the highest QB rating this year at 105) and Peyton Manning, both also had 2 bad games (below a QB rating of 50). Even Drew Brees had a couple of relatively mediocre games (right at a 60 rating in both cases).
Sounds about right in general from what you'd want from a QB: 14 out of 16 decent to great performances or nearly a 90% relative success rate.